Disney and Fox dedicate annual upfronts to headline women's sports events
The GIST: Women’s sports are the moment. In NYC this week, Disney and Fox dedicated a portion of their annual upfronts to headlining women’s sports events, where they pitched prospective advertisers on the perks of scoring inventory.
The details: The aforementioned Williams opened Disney’s upfront on Tuesday by announcing a docuseries chronicling her iconic career that will be co-produced by her Nine Two Six Productions and Tom Brady’s 199 Productions and Religion of Sports. The WNBA’s Breanna Stewart and LSU star Angel Reese were also on hand to chat about the rise of women’s basketball.
- A day earlier, Fox capped off its upfront with a segment on its upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup coverage, led by broadcaster Erin Andrews and USWNT World Cup champion Carli Lloyd. World domination.
Zooming out: Advertisers are taking increased interest in women’s sports amid a changing media landscape. Sports are TV’s best-performing programming and could officially usher in the streaming era, while also being one of the few entertainment sectors that likely won’t be disrupted by the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.
- Neither Disney nor Fox addressed the strike, though it’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore — writers and their allies staged protests right outside many of this week’s upfront presentations. Pay your writers like you should.
